Flashes
by thatchimmi
Summary: Pre-series. Follow the band through their mishaps as they wander towards stardom. Warnings pending.
1. In The Beginning, 1

**Yes, yes. After a long absence, I'm back. And with content! And apologies. I'm probably going to abandon 'Best Laid Plans'. Why? I've writting myself into a corner; one, I'm following an actual episode so it's getting too rigid for me. Two; it's really hard for me to write Tripp. Writing someone that age is hard! Lame excuses, but that's all I have. I honestly tried to finish it, but it was getting too aggravating. So, here are the options: I have this nice new shiny fic! It's basically going to be a series of one shots/two-shots that are loosely connected. So, no linear story line, just a collection of short-medium stories. This first one is going to be four chapters and after that, if people want me to keep writing, I will. If not, well there's a nice little story here that will remain. Regarding 'Best Laid Plans', I can either delete it, cos that thing is not going to be finished unless some miracle happens. Or I can leave it there and post the loose ending. Okay, on with the stories. More later.**

Part one

_First meetings and getting to know one another. _

Seeing New York in person was a lot different from seeing it on TV. For one, it was massively huge, making one feel ant-like in comparison to the towering buildings. The noise was crazy, like someone turned up a stereo and left it on. Plus all the people running around was weird. Even though the streets were emptier now at night, it was definitely different from the gray dullness of Cleveland, Ash Tyler decided as he watched a rat sneeze wetly nearby. Currently, he was sitting on a dirty curb between a group of pigeons and a strange man who kept inching closer to him while muttering under his breath. "Hey, speak up. I can't hear you when you're whispering-"

"It's mine-you can't have it!" The man gave Ash a nasty look before twisting the other way. "Skinny alien…think they can fool me…"

Ash scooted closer to the pigeons and looked at the building behind him. Richard 'Burger' Pitt, best friend and currently missing in action, was suppose to have the key to their new apartment five minutes ago. Instead of being inside, safe and away from pigeons and weirdos.

"Dude-" A loud voice called. Ash grinned now and got to his feet, seeing a stout, heavyset blond bounding over to him. He was twirling something shiny around his finger as he stopped in front of Ash. A key was dangled in front of Ash's face for a moment. "Got it, bro. Let's move in!"

Ash felt excited again, no longer annoyed about waiting outside. If his dad could see him now-he and Burger, small-town kids in the big city and pursuing their dreams…his dad would probably roll his eyes, actually. Ash shrugged mentally and began hauling his stuff from the beat-up car they drove in. "Help me out-my drum kit's gonna be a pain-"

"Them aliens are getting' fat now-"

"Excuse me?" Burger frowned at the man was glaring at them.

"Dude, forget about it-" Ash rolled his eyes and managed to heft all his bags into his arms.

Both of them were weighed down with their luggage by the time they reached the elevator. Burger smacked the up button and they leaned heavily against the wall, waiting for the doors to 'ping' open. They've must have been waiting awhile because Ash managed to doze off for a while before Burger shook him.

"I think the elevator's broken…" Burger groaned as he mashed his thumb against the grimy button. When the button refused to light up, he sighed. "Now what? We got to go up to the top floor with all this…"

"…I have an idea."

* * *

"This was a good idea," said Burger cheerfully as he swung his last suitcase up on the landing ahead. They decided they best way to go about moving their things was throwing, kicking, slingshot-ting the bags up the stairs. "I'm ahead, dude! I'm winning-"

"I thought we said it wasn't a race!" Ash complained as he kicked one of his duffle bags ahead. "No fair…

"Suck it up," said Burger, though not completely unkindly. He stepped back a few paces before charging an overstuffed duffle and punting it up to the next landing. The bag rolled back down loudly, deciding not to stay up in its new place. "Man…"

"Hey! Quit stomping about!"

The stairwell door flung open and they looked down to see a boy about their age. He was looking at them blearily, his wavy brown hair was tousled mess obviously from sleeping. After a moment of staring, he strode over and his eyes scanned the scattered bags. "It's past midnight, you know. People are trying to sleep."

"Err…sorry," said Ash, feeling a little sheepish. He thought they might have been loud, but they had to get the bags up somehow. "The elevator's broken-"

"Yeah, I don't care." The other boy looked at them angrily, his long arms crossed against his chest and his eyes narrowed. He glanced at the luggage on the floor again then back at them. "Are you lot moving into a flat?"

"Huh?" It seemed even Burger didn't quite understand what the strange youth was saying. "We're moving into the apartment on the thirteenth floor."

"Yeah, yeah-I figured." The boy frowned and nudged a beat up duffle with his foot. "What are you idiots doing? Throwing your parcels up the stairs?"

"Well…yeah." Burger bristled at the mild insult and glared at him. "How else are we going to get all this up thirteen flights?"

"Man, you lads are hopeless. I'll show you-"

* * *

"I'm Derek, by the way," informed the boy. He helped them rig a crude sleigh out of a small bookshelf from his own apartment. The bookshelf was laying flat with the luggage placed neatly inside the shelves. Ash was in front, dragging the contraption up the stairs by a set of cords. "I'm in 704 with another guy."

"That's cool-" Ash grunted loudly as he struggled to pull the shelf up the last flight. He supposed it would be less heavy if Derek wasn't sitting in one of shelves, riding along. "Uh, do you think you can help me pull?"

"Where's the large one? He can help you pull," said Derek, dismissively. A groan from behind made him turn around to see Burger pushing the 'sleigh'. "Oh, yeah…"

"So, can you help-"

"Oh! Here we are!" Derek said suddenly. He hopped off the shelf and opened the stairwell door to reveal a narrow hallway. "There's only two flats on this floor. They use to be offices or something."

"Yeah, we wanted something private," explained Burger as he joined Derek in the dark hallway. "We don't want to bother people."

"Clearly." Derek replied, his eyebrows raised slightly. He frowned at the duo, making them slightly uncomfortable. The boy pursed his mouth before turning on heel and walking to the other end of the hall. "Anyway! Let's get all this rubbish inside."

With Burger unlocking the door and Derek…not doing anything, Ash was left to haul the heavy load into the apartment. The doorway was too narrow, Ash found as he fought to angle the bookshelf through. It was at least twenty minutes before he managed to get the wide load inside and he immediately flopped onto his front, exhausted.

"Oh…dude, you just could've unloaded the stuff from the hall." Burger stood above Ash, frowning at him. Ash merely wheezed at him in response, too winded to use words.

"Ooh, you have a big apartment!" Derek seemed somewhat jealous as he wandered around the space. It was a little rude that Derek was now wandering from room to room, inspecting everything. "Two bathrooms! That's nice…My place only has one."

"Yeah, well, we're splitting the rent so we can afford it." Burger shrugged as he unzipped his one of his suitcases. The one with the chips inside it. "And this area's not totally expensive."

"Mm-hmm."

"Dude, what's with your voice by the way?"

Ash looked up from the carpet, curious as well. "Yeah, you talk funny."

"I'm English." At the dull silence, Derek rolled his eyes. "British. I'm from England."

"Oh! Like The Beatles!" Ash said happily. His smile faded a little at the face Derek made at him. His smiled faded more when the boy picked up Burger's bass case and opened it. "Uh-"

"Yes, exactly like The Beatles," snorted Derek as he experimentally held the instrument in his hands. "'Cos, you know, everyone from England is like them. Like you Yanks and Elvis-"

"Hey! That's mine-" Burger shouted, rushing over and snatching the bass away. "Dude, don't they teach you to keep your hands to yourself in England?"

"I was just looking," defended Derek, putting his hands on his hips. "If you don't want people looking, you shouldn't leave your things laying about."

"It was in the case!"

"Laying around."

"What are you talking about?" Burger blinked, realizing Derek had wandered off, effectively abandoning the argument. He looked around to see Derek on the floor, unpacking Ash's drums. "Dude! You're doing it again!"

"Are you lads in music?" asked Derek, ignoring Burger. He tapped a drumstick against a stray cymbal idly. "What sort of music? Not marching band right? That would actually explain alot-"

"Uh, could you not-" Ash crouched down in front of Derek and plucked the drumstick from him. When Derek reached for the other one, he immediately snatched it up. "They don't like to be touched."

"Oh. I just wanted to look." Derek looked at Ash, pouting a bit. "It wasn't like I was going to break them."

For some reason, Ash felt a bit flustered with the way Derek was looking at him. When he couldn't pin-point why, he shoved a drumstick into Derek's hand to make it stop. "Alright…"

"So, uh…you're into music too?" asked Burger, attempting to try and diffuse the awkward atmosphere.

"Actually, I'm here for the Juilliard summer program." Derek looked vaguely smug as he resumed pulling out the rest of the drums. "I'm gifted."

"Ooh, what did you get?" Ash asked, curious, his earlier embarrassment forgotten. He was sort of envious. He wanted gifts too. When Derek looked at him strangely, he tilted his head. "Well, what did Juilliard get you?"

"You're sort of stupid, aren't you?" Derek's tone had an odd tone of sympathy as if he was offering condolences. Ash didn't have anytime to retort when Burger shoved Derek in the shoulder. The Brit stumbled a few steps to the side and looked rather scandalized. "Hey!"

"Don't call him stupid, man!"

"Well, don't push me, _'man_'!"

"Don't call me 'man'-"

"Burger, you call me stupid too-"

"Shut up, Ash!" Both angry youths shot at Ash, stopping their yelling match for moment. They both glared at each other.

"Whatever, this is stupid-" snapped Derek, stalking to the door. He shot the boys a dirty look and sneered slightly. "I have better things to do than hang around a couple poofters."

"Hey!" When the Brit stopped and turned to glare back at them, Burger flipped him the bird. "Go drink some tea you jerk!"

Ash winced when Burger slammed the door. He could hear another door slam and stomping as Derek presumably stormed back to his own apartment. Ash looked at Burger as they slowly moved to unpack. "Go drink some tea?"

"Yeah." Burger looked pleased with himself as he lifted the bookcase upright. He looked at it for a moment for pushing it against the wall. "We're keeping this."

* * *

By the next evening, Ash and Burger had mostly put the odd confrontation behind them. More so Ash. He wasn't that angry to begin with, just confused. Derek was interesting and sort of funny (at least the way he talked was). Burger was less forgiving, still stewing over the fight in the morning. Thankfully (and predictably) dinner had him forget about the incident. Or at least, he was too busy thinking about what they were going to do about dinner.

There was no food in the apartment. Just a cockroach sitting peacefully in the back of one of the cupboards and suspicious lump of black fuzz in the fridge. Ash landed a job at a record store prior to moving, but wasn't going to start until next week. And the landlord came by earlier (under the guise of seeing if they moved in alright) to collect the month's rent. Now they only had three quarters, one dime and six green pennies.

If they had at least another three dollars, they could get hotdogs and that was better than nothing. And definitely better than attempting to eat the mysterious black fuzz (which Burger threaten to do if they didn't eat soon). So currently, the pair was in the process of tearing apart the apartment for loose change. Ash was dumping out their luggage, throwing clothes around. And Burger was caught under the couch after somehow burrowing himself underneath.

Ash stepped over the lump of Burger on the floor and began taking the cuisions off the couch. "C'mon, Burger. Don't just lay there-"

"A lot of thumping going on up here. Again." Derek's voice startled Ash as he jolted and spun around. The other boy was standing in the doorway looking mildly annoyed. Ash frowned back at Derek as he wandered in. "What are you lot doing now?"

"We're trying to find two more dollars for dinner," said Ash, answering for Burger as well (the bassist still had his head caught under the couch). He watched as Derek walked over to the stuck bassist and gave him a light kick. Clearly, Derek was not taught boundaries as a child. Ash intervened and got between them to help Burger out from the furniture. "We didn't have any time for food shopping yet…"

"Well, I have food in my flat," said Derek in disinterested tone. "If you lads are hungry or whatever."

Despite the Brit's bored and uncaring attitude, there was a tiniest hint of an apologetic tone. Ash was going to smile at him and accept the pseudo-offer but the couch suddenly flipped over and he found himself painfully pinned to the floor. "O-ow, ow, ow-"

"What kind of food?" Burger asked, brushing himself off. "A lot?"

"Lots of Spam…" Derek frowned and looked around Burger at Ash's squirming form. "I think your friend is-"

"Awesome! We love Spam!"

"Spam and eggs?"

"Spam, eggs and Spam. Always room for more Spam." Burger nodded, obviously warming up to the Brit now. He heard a choking noise and finally noticed Ash trapped under the couch. "Err...help me out a bit?"

Derek looked annoyed but sighed and shuffled over. "Fiiine. On three-"

"Three!" Ash groaned, pushing inaffectually at the couch.

The other boys managed to get the couch off of him and Ash scuttled away from the sinister furniture, feeling rather traumatized. At least it seemed Burger and Derek were getting along now. Ash dusted himself off and shook out the dust bunnies from his dark hair before following Burger and Derek out of the apartment. He smiled to himself, feeling better as they trekked down a few flights to Derek's apartment.

_TBC..._

**Alright, let's see how many reviews this will scare up. This isn't a big fandom but I'd like to know who I'm writing for! After all if there's enough enthusiam, I'd like to take requests after this four-shot is done! Anyway, suggestions, critisms and questions are always welcomed. Stay tune for part two!**


	2. In The Beginning, 2

**A/N: Just to clear things up-in my headcanon, this takes place in 1982 five years before they get famous. Burger and Ash are 17, Ash being on the older side of 17 and Burger being on the younger side (my logic is Ash was held back in school. It fits for me) and Derek's on the older side of sixteen. Hopefully, no one's confused. Maybe I'll add annotations at the end of this little story or something. Anyway, onward!**

Part 2

More and more, Ash and Burger found themselves at Derek's apartment (specifically around dinner time). Even though Derek was sort of bossy and mean, he seemed to like them.

"-is Cleveland big?" Derek was asking one evening. "London is huge, almost like here but cleaner. We like to keep England tidy."

"Not really," said Ash distractedly. He was focusing on an attempt to fish a noodle from a large boiling pot of water. "It's sort of boring."

"We lived outside of Cleveland anyway." Burger rolled his eyes and shoved Ash aside after he failed to get a noodle. He somehow grabbed a handful of pasta and flung it against the wall. Most of the noodles stuck and Burger turned off the stove. "Spaghetti's ready!"

"Dude, you're hand's red…" said Ash with a wince. Burger glanced at his discolored hand and his mouth tightened. The large boy scurried to the icebox and stuck his hand in, whimpering in his throat. Ash handed a bowl spaghetti to Burger and gave him an encouraging pat on the back. "This will help."

"Thanks…" Burger sighed, sniffing a bit. Without the use of his other hand, Burger was left staring at his food while the other sat at the table and dug in. He shrugged and pushed his face into the bowl, slurping loudly. "Huh…Ash, you forgot the parmesan."

"Catch-" Derek flung a container at Burger without looking up from his meal. A yelp and the crash of a breaking dish sounded but it was ignored. "So, what are you lads doing all the way out here then?

"We started a band back home but it kinda didn't work out," said Ash, "We had a full line up and everything, 'till they bailed on us 'cause they wanted to focus on going to '_college_'."

"Yeah, college is just made up anyway," added Burger from the floor (he was now eating his dinner off the linoleum). "More school _after_ school? It's like the boogeyman or something."

"I dread going back…" sighed Derek. He looked considerably less happy as he idly poked at his food. "I still have one more year of secondary. You lads are lucky you're finished."

"Oh, we never finished," said Burger, cheerfully. At Derek's incredulous look, he shrugged. "We were both like 'hey, this sucks' and 'let's not go back'-"

"So we didn't and next thing you know, we're eating spaghetti in New York!" Ash concluded. He slurped a mouthful of noodles before talking again. "Soon, we're going to be playing in clubs and getting record deals-"

"We just have to find a new singer and guitarist," said Burger. "We've already found some guys who want to audition! Reminds me, I gotta call them back soon…"

"Really?" Derek seemed to zone out for a moment before continuing. "What's your band called?"

"My Dog's Butt." The other two answered simultaneously. At Derek's confounded look, Burger shrugged. "It was a hit at last years' homecoming dance…"

"Right, well, maybe I could sing-" Derek didn't finish as the door in the front room banged open and slammed shut. He groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "Great. It's _him_-"

"What the heck, Jupiter-" an annoyed voice demanded. A short, stocky boy stalked into the kitchen and glared at them. His eyes slightly widened at the sight of Burger on the floor, surrounded with chunky, red sauce. "That's disgusting-"

"Guys, this is my flat mate. Brian." Derek grumbled, looking just as displeased. His jaw worked furiously for a few moments before he spoke further. "We're in the same music program…"

"Oooh. He's the talent-less hack who wears too much cheap cologne-" Ash trailed off when Derek gave him a swift look. He looked down into his pasta, suddenly very interested in it. "Or not. Could've been another guy."

There was a tense silence for a moment, only to be broken by Burger's loud chewing. The blond belched loudly and began licking his messy fingers. "Mm…tomato-y…So, pleased to meet you, bro!"

"Uhg, is this who you've been letting into the apartment?" The boy wrinkled his face as though the pair were a couple giant roaches. "Which one of you idiots used my green sweater to clean up a soda spill?"

"I told you, it wasn't us," said Derek flatly. He rolled his eyes and went to the stove. "Let's go to your place, lads."

"I know it was one of you-" Brian looked increasingly aggravated as Derek picked up the large pot and carried it out the kitchen. "That's my pot! What are you doing with my cookware?"

"Dude, it's our dinner," said Burger as though it was obvious. He paused at the table and took the can of tomato sauce. "We're gonna need this."

"And this-" Ash added, taking the container of cheese. He glanced at the counter and snatched a loaf of bread. "This too."

"You pigs are the ones eating my food, too?"

"I told you, it wasn't us!" Derek called over his shoulder as he opened the door for Ash and Burger. At Brian's indignant sputtering, he gave a quick wave and stepped out into the hall. "Don't wait up."

They could hear still hear Brian's shouting after them as they walked up to thirteenth floor. They finally settled back down to finish eating and Ash smiled as he sprinkled more parmesan onto his spaghetti. "He seems nice!"

Derek stared while Burger coughed loudly. "Sure, Ash. So, how d'ya get stuck with that guy?"

"The school ran out of housing and shafted me into this place with him." Derek made a face.

"At least you can hang out with us though!" Ash said cheerfully. When Derek merely looked at him, he pouted. "Right?"

"Right, Ash." Derek conceded.

Ash smiled, satisfied. "Good."

"At least that poser's never around," sighed Derek, looking annoyed. He aggressively began twirling noodles onto his fork from the pot. "He's always in class and studying in his room, so I don't have to deal with him."

"Don't you go to class?" Ash asked with a frown. Now that he thought about it, Derek seemed to be around a lot for someone in school.

"I tried. But it's hard to wake up in the morning," replied Derek, flippantly. "And then there's the writing and the reading and the people who think they sing better than me-"

"So, you pretty much just hang around here even though you spent a lot of money to do the program?" Burger cocked his head at Derek's nod and shrugged. "With the reading and junk, can't say I really blame you!"

"Well, it's also not like I'm wasting my time here..." Derek's tone became overly casual as he began biting into a massive forkful of pasta. "I mean, there's lots of opportunities to do music or join bands..."

When Ash and Burger simply continued to eat, Derek cleared his throat loudly. "Did you want something to drink, dude?"

"No! I'm trying to say, I want to join-give your band a try!" exclaimed Derek, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

"Why didn't you just say so? Sure!" Ash smiled as Burger nodded enthusiastically. "We're going to audition people this Saturday. Just come over and you can show us what you got!"

The grin on Derek's face faded suddenly and was replaced with a scowl. "I have to audition?"

"Well, yeah." Burger raised an eyebrow at Derek and frowned. The Brit suddenly got up, looking peevish, and began stalking to the kitchen. "Hey, it's only fair! We have to give the other guys a chance-"

"I shouldn't have to audition!" whined Derek over the sound of running water from the sink. "I'm fantastic!"

"You are!" Ash assured, not wanting Derek to be upset. He paused and scratched his cheek for a moment. "If we ever actually _heard_ you sing."

"Well, I'll sing when I'm the lead singer for this band."

"No. It's not fair."

"But it's not fair to me!" It sounded like Derek was stomping around now as the boy ranted. "It stupid...and..."

When the loud Brit trailed off, Ash and Burger glanced at eachother. Ash started to get up, hoping Derek didn't forget himself and blank out. It happened often enough to him, so Ash understood. "Derek? Are you-

"Anyway-" Derek suddenly walked back out of the kitchen, smiling now. A complete change from the huffiness moments ago. "I better get going, lads. Brian locks me out if I'm later than ten."

"But it's only seven-twenty…" Ash squinted at the clock wondering if he read it wrong. "I think-"

"Okay, I'll see everyone later!" Derek skipped to the door, backwards and slipped out into the hall. "Bye!"

* * *

It was midnight when the door was pounded on loudly. Ash and Burger had been engrossed with a Nintendo game and they nearly jumped out of their skins when the knocking startled them. It being midnight in Brooklyn, in an apartment building with little security, Burger grabbed a bat and held Ash in front of him like a shield. "Okay, Ash…like we practiced-"

"You push me into the crazy person and you start swinging the bat while he's distracted." Ash nodded, giving Burger a thumbs-up. "Got it, bro."

"Unless it's the pizza guy."

"Right." Ash frowned and twisted his head to look at his friend. "Did we order pizza?"

"No. But that's okay." Burger raised the bat and lowered his voice as they stood in front of the door. "Okay. Open it-"

Ash swung it open and Burger shoved him, ready to bash some skulls in. He froze seeing that it wasn't a crazy person or the pizza guy. Derek was pushing Ash back away, looking confused. The Brit's arms were loaded with several suitcases and he looked mildly annoyed. "Uh…Derek? What are you doing here?"

"My former roommate and I had a discussion and came to the conclusion that it's best if I found a better place," explained Derek placidly. He stepped into the apartment and rocked on his heels. "Lucky for you lads, this place is closer than my other choices."

"That dude kicked you out, huh?" Burger smirked slightly at Derek's withering look.

"One could see it that way…" grumbled Derek.

"You can crash here for a while, I guess," said Burger, sensing Derek's bad mood. "I don't know where you'll sleep though."

"Well, I suppose you and Ash can share a room and I can get the other one…" said Derek nonchalantly. He pouted at the collective 'no' his suggestion received. "Oh, come on! It makes sense: I can't room with one of you, but you two are mates so it's okay if you move in together! You'll have fun."

"Mates?" Burger made a face and grimaced. "Dude, we're not gay-"

"I never said you were!" protested Derek quickly, confusion on his face. "I'm just saying you two should share a room and I can have one to myself-"

"One-you called us mates. Two-no! Sleep on the couch!"

"Mates are friends, you daft git," snapped Derek. His jaw was clenched tightly and his eyes were narrowed. "I'm not sleeping on the couch."

Ash had been around enough kids to know the beginning signs of a tantrum. He cleared his throat and elbowed Burger before any further argument progressed. "You can take my room tonight, Derek…"

"Dude, what about you?" demanded Burger, crossing his thick arms across his chest.

"I'll just take the couch…" sighed Ash. Honestly, he just wanted to go to sleep right now. "We'll figure it out in the morning."

"Good, then it's settled!" Derek seemed far more cheerful now as he shifted his pillow up in his arms. He strolled to the hallway towards Ash's room, whistling. "It's best this way. Since we're in a band together, it'll be so much more simpler if we live together, yeah?"

"Yeah? No!" Burger followed Derek, close on his heels. "We didn't even say yes to letting you in!"

"We do have two people we were going to check out…" Ash added. He was happy that Derek was apparently eager to be a part of their band but it would be mean to not even let the other guys have a shot.

"Oh, I called them and told them their services were no longer needed," said Derek flippantly. He looked back at the others, smiling widely. "It was obvious you were going to pick me. I just saved you lads a lot of time."

"What?" Burger ran past Derek and stood in front of him. His larger body effectively blocked the other boy from continuing down the hall. "Dude, you can't just barge in here and move in. And you can't just join the band without our decision!"

"You're welcome." Derek looked pleased with himself, as if Burger's exasperation wasn't there. He sighed and walked between the other boys, putting his arms over their shoulders. "You'll see this is the best choice you've ever made. With me at the helm, we'll be flying to the stars by the end of the month!"

Maybe it was Derek's strangely pleasant voice or the accent, but the small speech had Ash and Burger a bit awestruck. They smiled as the trio gazed out the dirty window to the night sky. "…There's no stars in New York."

"Metaphorically. Just keep looking."

**Next update will be awhile. I'm always entertained when I see what countries I get views from. Denmark? Wow. Anyway, I'm off on a trip with a few friends! Meanwhile, comments, suggestions or whatever are always welcome.**


	3. In The Beginning, 3

**Back from my trip! Sorry about the long wait. Here's another chapter~**

For the past three weeks since Derek moved in, they found themselves in a state of inertia. They had tried to practice in their living room at first. Apparently the noise and vibrations they made was causing the old building to shake and there were many complaints of paint chips and dust falling from respective ceilings. Needless to say, they were told to stop or be kicked out.

Most of their time was occupied with sitting on the couch, either playing Nintendo or watching the bad reception on their TV. Sometimes Ash would disappear to his job at the record store while Derek and Burger wander off on their own, looking for odd ways to make money. So far they were unsuccessful.

It didn't help that Burger got fired from his first job; ice cream truck driver. They had really liked that one since Burger often brought back plenty of frozen treats for them. But it turns out taking ice cream without asking or paying can get you fired.

Derek claimed he couldn't work since he was busy writing music and lyrics. But Ash had managed to peek at Derek's notebook, only to find rather nonsensical limericks and scribbles. He was sort of offended at the crude doodle of him and Burger. Either way, Derek somehow always had money on him. When they asked him about it, Derek was rather vague and refused to elaborate.

They probably wouldn't have to care about money if they didn't spend so much of it. Ash always had buy comic books on a weekly basis and insisted that they take regular trips to Coney Island. In addition to their already large food budget, Burger had his own separate cabinet for a private stash of snacks. Derek, surprisingly, didn't spend that much money. But that was due to how pricey most of the things he wanted were.

At the present moment, the boys were spending more money at a diner, deciding that tonight was the night they were going to order each item on the menu. They had found the diner down the street from their apartment and immediately claimed it as their official 'food place'. It wasn't especially good or anything, but the food was cheap and it had a colorful jukebox that they enjoyed playing with.

"So, I've found a good place for rehearsal," said Ash in between shoveling fries into his mouth. When Burger reached for one of his fries, the drummer smacked his hand without looking. "Uh-uh."

"Ow…"

Derek pushed his plate over to Burger to offer some of his onion rings. He waved his hand at Ash to urge him to continue. "Well? Go on-where is it?"

"My boss says we can use the storage room at work!" Ash grinned. He looked pleased with himself when Burger and Derek made sounds of approval. "Good job?"

"Good job, Ash-" Derek nodded. "Now we can practice!"

Burger cleared his throat suddenly and nudged Ash lightly. "Hey, Ash, speaking of your job…"

"…What about it?" Ash asked blankly. When Burger looked at him expectantly, he shook his head slowly, unsure of what the bassist wanted. "Did…you want a discount?"

"Oh, I want one!" Derek demanded, looking up from his food. "I need to buy back all the albums I left back in England…"

"Ooh, which albums?" Ash winced when Burger kicked him under the table. "Ow…"

"I mean, you know…" Burger coughed and lowered his voice slightly. "The guy who does the you-know-what…? You know?"

Ash squinted at Burger as he began mimicking air-guitar moves. A light bulb went off in his head and he nodded, giving his friend a thumbs up. He looked at Derek, knowing the subject he was about to breach was a sensitive one.

"Derek, one of our stock guys plays the guitar," said Ash casually. When the Brit nodded, Ash tried pressing a bit more. "He's pretty good."

"Mm." Derek seemed more focused on his soda at the moment. He sipped loudly, steadily draining his glass.

"I was talking to Burger and we think he should try playing with us-" Ash winced when the slurping grew exponentially louder. He looked at Burger helplessly who shrugged. "We think it be a good idea to get a guitarist!"

Derek's glass was empty as he continued to noisily suck on his straw. The nasty glare aimed at Ash was the only thing that indicated that he had been paying attention. When Ash and Burger gave him pleading looks, he pushed his glass away abruptly and scowled. "We agreed that we don't need a guitarist. I play the guitar."

"Yeah, but-" Burger groaned inwardly as Derek grabbed his glass again. "You're the lead singer. So you should sing instead of playing guitar _and_ sing."

"Yeah, Burger's right," insisted Ash. He took the glass away from Derek as the slurping started again. "We need a real guitarist who can focus on really playing."

Derek pouted and looked away. "I'm completely capable of doing both. End of discussion."

Ash and Burger sighed, exchanging exasperating glances. Derek was a great singer and, admittedly, a decent guitarist. But he was more stubborn than the two of them put together. The trio sat in a cool silence, only their chewing audible. It was only when Derek suddenly jolted and ducked down in his seat, that they started talking again.

"Dude, what's with you?" Burger asked. He took the opportunity to take a handful of onion rings from Derek's plate.

"It's that guy. He's staring at me," hissed Derek. He grabbed Ash and Burger by the hair when they turned their heads. They 'ow-ed' as Derek forced their heads still. "Don't look!"

"Well, how are we suppose to know what you're talking about?" complained Burger as he massaged his scalp. He shook his head briefly and lowered his voice. "Is it that one dude you were complaining about last time?"

"Yeah-"

"And the time before that?"

"Yeah! It's always the same guy!" Derek nodded and drummed his fingers against the table, agitated. The past several times they've been into the diner, he noticed the same guy staring. Just staring. Derek's eyes darted from his plate to the spot behind Ash and Burger. "I knew he was staring! I wasn't just being paranoid-"

"Are you sure?" questioned Ash. "Maybe he's just sleeping with his eyes open while facing you."

"That's a good point, but no," replied Derek. He scowled and motioned the others to huddle in closer. "Just casually turn around and look at three o' clock."

The pair slowly twisted around, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. "Uh…no one's staring."

"I said, three o' clock. You're looking at six o' clock." Derek groaned and rubbed his forehead. "Now you're just looking at the clock…Here, just-"

Their heads were forced in the correct direction. And, indeed, there was a guy standing at the bar staring. Or was, now he was suddenly greatly interested in a glass he was cleaning.

"Dude, there's a guy who's totally staring," informed Burger as he turned back abruptly. He looked again before whipping his head back in place. "Yeah, he's definitely staring."

"Told you," said Derek. He lowered his voice and gestured them to huddle closer. "He's been staring at me the last few times we've been here."

"Wait-" Ash frowned and tilted his head at Derek. "How come he's staring at you? He could be staring at me."

"Or me."

"Or Burger." Ash nodded.

Derek looked slightly floored. "Of course he's staring at me. Why would he be staring at you two?"

"Hey…" Burger's face fell slightly at the insulting tone.

"I'd stare at Burger," defended Ash, petting his friends' arm comfortingly. He glanced back at the bar again and jolted suddenly. "Crap, he's headed straight towards us-"

"Just act naturally-"

Normal for Burger apparently meant plopping his face into his plate of food. It spattered onto Derek and Ash, causing both of them to jump. Derek scowled and shoved the table against Burger. "Ow-"

The bassist had toppled back onto the floor and he found himself staring up at the stare-er. The boy's eyebrows were raised at them and he backed away slowly after quickly taking their empty dishes. "Uh…refill?"

The boys mumbled a collective 'no' and Burger hefted himself back up. The busboy shuffled off after giving them a wary glance. Burger cleared his throat and dusted himself off. "…Man, what a freak."

* * *

"We need a new diner," suggested Derek as they walked back to their apartment later that evening.

"Yeah. He could be…like a serial killer. Or something." Burger nodded and shuddered. He suddenly groaned and slapped his forehead. "Crap, we never got through the menu!"

"Oh, yeah... We'll just have to try again from the beginning," sighed Derek, pouting slightly. Burger actually seemed a bit happy at the suggestion. "It was that creeper! He made us leave before we could order more…"

"He kinda looks like a hobo," concluded Ash, looking worried. "You know what they say about hobos…" When he received blank looks, he rolled his eyes and continued. "They eat people."

"….Really?" Derek's tone was disbelieving but his eyes showed a bit of concerned. "Should-should we call the police? Or something?"

"Nah. It's fine," insisted Burger as he held the building door open, letting the others walk in first. "We'll find another diner and problem solved." They began their thirteen flight trek up to their apartment, all trotting up in order of shortest to tallest. "It's not like that dude's gonna follow us home."

They were five flights up when they noticed the sound of footsteps behind them. It was nothing to be really concerned about. Plenty of people lived in the building after all. But when the footsteps persisted past the tenth floor, they began to grow wary.

"Walk faster-"

"I'm trying! Ow, my legs-"

"You guys are dumb," snorted Ash as he trailed behind the other two at a leisurly pace. "There's no way it's the staring guy." The drummer leaned over the railing casually and glanced down. He was greeted with the vaguely familiar sight of messy blond hair and slowly looked away again. "Guys!"

Burger and Derek found themselves pushed aside as Ash suddenly barged pass them at high speed. They sped up as well and caught up with their drummer at their floor. He was petting himself down, looking panicked. "Dude, what's wrong with you?"

'The hobo!" Ash panted out as he produced a key ring from inside his vest. He began flicking through them, in search of the door key. "He's going to eat us-"

"Oh, god-" Derek began shaking out his jacket for his own key, his face suddenly too pale. "Burger, if it comes down to it-you have to let him eat you first-"

"_What?_ No!" The door creaking open killed the start of their argument as all three boys jumped around to see the hobo-stalker walking into the hall and waving.

"Hey-"

The scruffy boy was cut off when Burger's large fist suddenly made contact with the side of his head. "The creeper followed us!"

"I'm not a creep-"

Derek punched the other side of the stranger's head, looking panicked. "Ash, go inside and get the bat-"

"No, don't get the bat!"

"He's getting aggressive!" squeaked Ash. He kicked the blond boy's shin before trying to jam the key into the door lock. "Don't let him bite you or you'll turn into a hobo too-"

"I'm just trying to talk to you guys!" The boy held up his hands in a gesture of surrender and stepped back. When the others ceased their assault, he visibly relaxed.

"What do you want to talk about?" Burger demanded, still looking rather on edge.

The stalker lifted up a guitar case from his back and smiled slightly. "Thought you lads might need me?"

There was a long pause. Realization was dawning on Burger's face, while Derek mouth tightened at the sight of the instrument. "How did you know-"

"You must be related to Derek!" Ash said suddenly, his face lighting up as though a switch in his brain had turned on. At the blank stares, he rolled his eyes and put his hands on his hips. "They both talk British."

"Ash, that doesn't mean-" Derek pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "Never mind. There is no relation between us."

"Oh…" Ash wilted slightly. "Are you sure?"

"Anyway-" The boy straightened himself and lifted his guitar in front of him, placing emphasis on the instrument. "I overheard you lads are in a band."

"Yeah, so?" Derek scowled and edged out from his hiding place behind Burger. "Do you always eavesdrop?" He turned to the others and mouthed 'stalker'.

"I saw that. I am not a stalker! I just overheard that you needed a guitarist." Dark eyes narrowed when the word stalker was stage-whispered. "My name is Bleed. Not stalker."

Burger snorted loudly. "That's not a name-" Hearing soft coughs from his band mates, the bassist pouted. "Whatever."

"So. _Bleed._ You're a guitarist then?" Derek questioned, still looking wary. When Bleed nodded eagerly, Derek clapped his hands sharply. "Well, we don't need one. So, sorry you came all the way out here. Come on, lads-"

"Wait! I really need this-" Bleed grabbed the back of their shirts and yanked them from the door. He looked at them miserably, clutching his guitar case to his chest. "There was this flier at the deli down the street for 'My Dog's Butt' a few weeks ago. And I thought I was going to get a gig with them but some kid called me and said they didn't need me-"

"Oh, that's terrible…" said Derek, coughing slightly. "What was that band called again?"

"He sort of sounded like you…" Bleed had a mild look of suspicion on his face as he scrutinized Derek. The singer looked away innocently and suddenly became very interested in the doorknob. "Anyway, he tells me the position is all filled! I didn't even get to audition."

"That sucks!" Ash felt offended on the boy's behalf. "That jerk totally cheated you. What a rude ass-" The back of his arm was pinched hard and Ash winced. Derek was glaring at him, his fingers digging to the soft part of his bicep.

"Now I'm stuck here with a lame job," finished Bleed, looking forlorn. He swung his guitar case lightly and rocked on his heels. "So…can I try out for your band? I mean, you guys are looking for a guitarist. I'm a guitarist…"

The boys looked at each other, then Ash and Burger looked at Derek who looked somewhat put off. They gave the singer a stern look. "Derek, we need a guitarist."

"But I can play the guitar-" protested Derek, crossing his arms. When he received glares, he huffed and rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine! But he has to be better than me or he's not in."

* * *

"-it was a little better than me-"

"Dude, it was _waaay_ better than you."

"What? How dare you-"

"He meant, now you can focus on singing instead guitar and singing!"

"Uh, guys?" Bleed shouted over the rabble. The three musicians looked at the blond, each wearing irritation on their faces. "Am I in?"

"Yeah!" Ash and Burger grinned, showing their approval.

They all looked at Derek who still looked annoyed. He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Sure, whatever." He finally offered a stiff smile and continued. "At least it'll be nice to have a fellow Englishman around."

"Really?" Bleed grinned and pumped his fist energetically. He bounded to the couch and dropped in between Burger and Derek, squeezing the four of them together. "Oh, man, you have no idea how pumped I am! I thought I was going to be a busboy forever after the last band let me down." The blond sighed and slung his arms around them, somehow squeezing them tighter together. "Whatever-any band has to be better than a group that calls themselves 'My Dog's Butt'. Hey, what do you guys call yourselves again?"

"Uh…"

"Derek Jupiter and The Other Guys!"

Burger and Ash looked at Derek strangely who just smiled innocently. The bassist narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "No, it's-"

"-great, right?" Derek smiled smugly. He had been kicking the idea in his head for awhile now. "Much better than 'My Dog's Butt', eh?"

"Uh…" Bleed squinted at Derek and gingerly took his arm off of the singer. "I take it you're Derek…?"

"Yes."

"Uh-uh…well. The name can always be changed," said Bleed flippantly. He didn't seem to notice Derek's eyes narrowing. "I mean, it's not very catchy. There has to be a rhythm to these things-"

"Ash, weren't you saying that someone at your work wanted to try out?" Derek asked abruptly.

"Uh…yeah. But, he kinda sucks compared to Bleed-" Ash wilted slightly under Derek's glare.

Burger frowned at Derek, looking slightly annoyed. "Dude, it's settled; Bleed's our new guitarist. And-" He raised his voice slightly and leaned in towards the singer. "The band name is going to be discussed. Right?"

Derek looked ready to argue but he realized that both Ash and Burger were giving him looks. He looked at the new guy to see a cheerful smile on his face. Derek resisted the urge to give everyone a kick to the gut and sighed. He was outvoted. Again. "Fiiiine. I still like the name though. It's like the 'Jimi Hendrix Experience'-"

"It's _nothing_ like the 'Jimi Hendrix Experience'," interrupted Burger flatly.

"Well, it's a bit like 'Simon and Garfunkle'. Except I'm Simon and the rest of you are Garfunkle-"

"Ha, ha. No."

"I like that other name. We should be called the 'Jimi Hendrix Experience'!"

The arguing stopped at Ash's cheerful comment. Bleed squinted at the drummer before coughing. "Is this guy for real?"

"Yeah…" sighed Burger. "He's real."

* * *

It was barely a few days before Bleed showed up on their doorstep with several bags. Apparently, he had been evicted from his apartment due to disturbing the peace. He explained this, looking rather sheepish, to a sympathetic Ash and Burger. Derek, on the other hand, didn't seemed too moved.

"He's not moving in," said Derek firmly. "There's no way."

"Why not?" demanded Burger, crossing his arms. "Rent will be even cheaper with four people!"

"Yeah-" Ash chimed in. "And remember when you moved in and you said it would be easier if we all lived together?"

"Well, I-" Derek looked a bit flustered now. He had only said that so he'd have somewhere to live. "But…there's no room."

"Sure there is," insisted Burger. "There's two bedrooms."

"They're both occupied."

"Yeah. Me and Ash share one-"

"And I have the other one." Derek interrupted. He looked at Bleed and gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry. We're out of room!"

"Can't I just share a room with you?" Bleed asked, looking slightly confused. "I mean, those guys share one-"

"No, no. I couldn't ask you to move into that tiny, little room with me," replied Derek, sounding long-suffering. "It wouldn't be fair."

"…I'm sure it's not that bad." Bleed frowned at Derek, looking a bit miffed. He was starting to get a sneaking suspicion that the singer wasn't too fond of him.

"Oh. It's bad-" Derek looked dead serious as he looked at Bleed. He was elbowed by Burger and Ash, making him wince. "Ow…"

"Dude, you have the bigger bedroom! Man, you're greedy…" Burger rolled his eyes and took one of Bleed's bags. "Come on, bro. I'll show you where it is-"

Derek made a sound that was similar to a wounded dog. But he didn't say anything as he trudged after them to his bedroom. Bleed was already checking it out and staking out his space.

"This is nice! I'll hunt down a mattress and stuff tomorrow." He gave Derek a sidelong glance and raised his voice slightly. "It's not small at all!"

"Awesome, bro," said Ash as he sat on Derek's bed. The move earned him a dirty look from the singer that he didn't notice. "I'll help you tomorrow with the mattress-hunt. I saw one in the alley a few blocks from here."

"You can take the couch tonight," yawned Burger. He stretched, audibly cracking a in a few places. He waved at Derek, yawning again. "Dude, help your new room mate settle in. I'm crashing."

Derek huffed and immediately turned to Ash who was already out the door. The drummer waved lazily at the two Brits, yawning as well. "I'm going to bed too. It's like…morning. But not 'morning enough' for breakfast."

The pair was left alone in silence for a moment, Derek looking annoyed and Bleed looking awkward. Bleed rocked on his heels slightly, sucking noisily on his teeth. "So…you got a spare blanket or something I can use?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah-" Derek walked across the room, only to plop himself in front of a mirror. He began pulling out bottles of lotion and various liquids as Bleed coughed at him. "Hang on a minute, would you? You did interrupt my bedtime routine."

"Oh. Alright then…" Bleed shrugged and sat on the floor, near Derek. He couldn't help but wrinkle his nose at the odd scent that came from one of open bottles.

"So, what part of England are you from?" asked Derek as he distractedly dabbed dots of lotion on his face, making little shapes with it on his skin. He didn't notice Bleed giving him a weird look as he started rubbing the lotion onto his face.

"Uh…" Bleed hesitated, looking visibly perturbed "London."

Derek looked at the other boy, quizzically and snorted. "You're not from London."

"Yeah, I am," Bleed insisted, sounding a bit too forceful. "What makes you think I'm not?"

"Your accent's a bit odd." Derek shrugged, as though it were obvious. He didn't catch the faint shade of pink on Bleed's face as he continued. "I can't quite pinpoint it."

"Oh, well-" Bleed's expression twisted a bit as though he was in a bit of mental pain. "Ah, my parents moved us here when I was ten. So, yeah-lost the accent after awhile."

"That makes sense." Derek nodded, as he continued rubbing his face. He realized Bleed was staring at him and shot the blond a look. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yeah, actually," said Bleed, quickly before Derek's attention wandered elsewhere. "What do you have against me? The others seem to like me…"

"Oh, it's nothing personal," said Derek hastily as he got up from the floor and went to his bed. "Don't worry."

"What is it then?"

"It's my room and I don't like sharing." Derek said simply. When Bleed stared at him, he gave a small shrug. "What? I don't."

"Well…at least you're honest, I guess," said Bleed, sounding a bit wary. He shifted on the floor and looked around. When he realized Derek was staring at him, he felt a bit uncomfortable. "What?"

"Nothing. I just figured out that I think you're alright," replied Derek, his voice cheerful now. "Even though you're taking over my room, I mean."

"Oh. What brought this on?"

Derek shrugged and flipped onto his back to lay down. "I didn't want some guitarist to steal my spotlight. But I think between the two of us on stage, I stand out the most."

"Oh. I guess, but that's just your opinion." Bleed looked offended as he crossed his arms across his chest. "We haven't even played together yet."

"Yes, well-" Derek yawned, obviously not picking up on Bleed's annoyance. "I'm the best looking, so my point still stands." He sat up and went to the mirror on the wall, smiling widely. "Look at how my smile pops!"

"Uh…" Bleed was going to say something but thought better of it as Derek seemed invested on gazing at the mirror. When Derek glanced at him expectantly, he coughed and stood up. "Uh, so where's that blanket again?"

"Oh, yeah! Sorry," said Derek as he went to his trunk and retrieved the spare blanket. He tossed it at the other boy as he climbed into his own bed and stretched out. "By the way, Bleed…what's your real name?"

"My what?"

"Your real name."

Bleed stared at Derek for a moment, looking a bit taken aback. "It's Bleed."

"Your name's not Bleed." Derek laughed, obviously amused. "That's like Burger's name really being Burger." His voice lowered like he was telling a secret. "It's Richard-"

"Well, Bleed is my real name," said Bleed stubbornly, crossing his arms. He couldn't think of a good follow-up as Derek looked at him with a note of disbelief. "So…yeah."

"Fine, whatever," sighed Derek, rolling his eyes. "What's your surname then?"

"Uh…I don't have one." When Derek gave him a withering look, Bleed shrugged. "What? I'm pretty sure I don't have one. My parents are weird."

"Right. Well, goodnight then," said Derek, sounding mildly annoyed. His tone became audibly sarcastic when he continued. "_Bleed._"

"Goodnight, _Derek_," replied Bleed, mimicking Derek's sarcasm. The other boy huffed loudly and the mattress squeaked noisily. He hovered by the doorway for a moment, feeling irritated. "Jupiter is a planet by the way. Not a name."

"Excuse me?" Derek sat up and glared at Bleed. "You're rather rude for an Englishman."

"You're ruder," retorted Bleed.

Derek stuck his tongue out and flopped back down. "Oh, shut up."

"You shut up."

"No, you-" Derek was cut off as the door shut and Bleed's footsteps dashed down the hall. Determined to get the last word in, Derek jumped out of bed and ran to the living room. "You shut up!"

"I can't hear you," said Bleed loudly as he covered his ears. "So, shut up."

"No, you-"

"Will you both shut up!" Burger's voice hollered from down the hall. "Man…no wonder you guys got kicked out of your own places."

The Brits glared at each other sulkily for a moment before Derek began shuffling back to his own room. The singer coughed and looked over his shoulder. "You shut up."

Before Bleed could sit up, Derek was already safely in his room, slamming the door shut.

**One more part to this particular story. I'm thinking of doing a series of drabbles after this, so if anyone has suggestions let me know! **


	4. In The Beginning, 4

**Last part! Enjoy~**

The landlord was a bit confused that the number of inhabitants seemingly doubled. But they managed to convince him that the two extra Brits had been there the whole time. The once spacious apartment felt a bit small now that Derek and Bleed moved in. They were constantly getting in each other's way and there was very little privacy. Burger was a frequent offender of bursting into the bathroom without knocking which led to a lumpy head from things being thrown at him.

They argued quite a bit, mostly over little things. Fighting over sitting space on the ratty couch, chores(which were seemingly never done), food-but thankfully they were quick to forgive and forget.

Ash was pleasantly surprised how well the four of them were getting along though. Back home, he and Burger weren't exactly popular. They weren't as bad as the D&D nerds (though Burger was secretly one), but they really only had each other as close friends. Everyone seemed to only talk to them if they needed a band for their parties or something. Most people found his absent-minded, dreamy personality irritating but these guys didn't seem to mind it. Plus, they seemed to genuinely like him.

Speaking of his new friends, he heard Derek's voice from the living room and shuffled down the hall to see what he was up too. Derek was slumped on the couch, only a small portion of his head visible. There was no one else there and Ash frowned. Talking to yourself was a sign of craziness. He knew this as his cousin frequently spoke to himself.

Carefully and quietly, Ash scuttled over and stood behind to couch to see Derek had the phone to his ear. Ash felt a bit relived that his new friend wasn't a crazy person. He made a silly face at the back of Derek's head and pretended to karate-chop him to see if he could be noticed. The Brit didn't respond to his antics and merely sighed into the phone. Ash frowned, disappointed slightly, and waited for Derek to hang up.

"Right. Alright, alright-I love you too." Derek finally grumbled. He waited a moment before hanging up the phone.

"Whatcha doing?" Ash asked suddenly, leaning over the couch to look at the Brit. He jumped as Derek jumped from fright, the sudden movement startling him. "Whoa! Chill, bro-"

"Then don't sneak up on me!" snapped Derek, looking disturbed. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "How long were you listening?"

"Listening to what?" Ash scrunched his face while Derek looked a bit relieved. "You on the phone?"

Derek winced and slumped down a bit. "Yes. That. Did you hear me?"

"No…" Ash smiled suddenly, feeling mischievous. "Only 'I love you'. Who were you talking to?"

"No one." Derek grumbled, looking faintly embarrassed. He got up from the couch and went to the kitchen. When Ash followed him, he scowled at the drummer. "Go bother Burger or something!"

"Was it your girlfriend?" Ash asked in a sing-song voice.

"No." Derek rolled his eyes as he opened a bag of popcorn. "Mind your own business."

"Oh. Was it your boyfriend?" Ash joked. He blinked when Derek coughed loudly, choking on a mouthful of kernels.

"What? No!"

"Who has a boyfriend?" Bleed strolled in suddenly and hopped onto the counter. He took a handful of popcorn from Derek, oblivious to the singer's choking.

"Derek, I guess," answered Ash with a shrug. Derek shot him a murderous look as Bleed made his own choking noise.

"I was on the phone with my mum!" shouted Derek, sounding livid. He threw the bag of popcorn at Ash, hitting him square in the face and stomped off. "Everyone's so nosy!"

"Jeez…" grumbled Ash, feeling a bit sheepish. He hated it when Derek got mad at him. Especially when he felt he didn't do anything wrong. "What's wrong with him?"

"Eh. He's a sensitive one." Bleed shrugged as he began picking popcorn out of Ash's hair. "Want some?"

"Yeah, I guess…" sighed Ash, taking the offered popcorn. "Mm. Why would he be so secretive about talking to his mom? I call my mom every week. I call Burger's mom every week!"

"My mom doesn't have a phone," said Bleed, through a mouthful of popcorn. When Ash blinked at him, he shrugged. "She doesn't believe in them."

"Really?" Ash filed this bit of information away. Bleed was always so tight-lipped about himself, so it was good to know even little bits like this. "That's weird."

"Are you making fun of my mother, Ash?" demanded Bleed, his eyes narrowed. He smirked as Ash stammered out an apology and shrugged. "I was just kidding, jeez."

"Oh…" Ash pouted a bit and stood, shaking the rest of the popcorn off him. He could never tell when the guitarist was serious or joking. It was a little annoying. "Okay, then."

Bleed fixed Ash with a conspiring look now and stood at his elbow. "So…what's this about Derek having a boyfriend?"

"Who has a boyfriend?" Burger bounded into the kitchen, looking mildly curious. His face lit up seeing the scattered popcorn. "Ooh, popcorn!"

"Apparently, Derek," said Bleed with a slight cough.

"Derek what?" Burger asked through his chewing.

"Has a boyfriend," answered Ash, forgetting that he was the one who made the joke. He sighed and shrugged. "Who knew."

"I do not have a boyfriend, you idiots!" Derek's voice yelled as footsteps stomped by. He stopped by the kitchen and glared at them, saving an extra-venomous glare at Ash. "I'm leaving."

"Okay," they chorused, simultaneously. None of them flinched when the door slammed shut.

* * *

"I'm bored," announced Burger from the floor. He was in the middle of counting cracks in the ceiling but gave up after thirty-two. When no one replied, he turned his head towards the couch where Bleed and Ash sat. They were staring at the TV with glazed expressions, controllers clicking in their hands. "I said, I'm bored."

"So?" Ash mumbled, not taking his eyes off the little white ball moving on the screen.

"Let's go do something."

"We are doing something." Bleed twisted the dial on his controller, bouncing the ball back towards Ash with a 'beep'.

"Let's do something _fun._" Burger insisted. When he was ignored, he grabbed their pant legs and began yanking. "C'mon guys! Let's go to the arcade!"

"The arcade is stupid-" Ash groaned as he missed the ball. "You cheated."

"Can't cheat at pong, mate."

"Pong is stupid…" grumbled Burger, sitting up. "I want to play Centipede."

Ash tossed his controller at the wall as the ball drifted by his paddle again. "Fine. This game is stupid anyway."

"…You guys suck." Bleed gave Ash a withering look as he reluctantly put his controller down.

They quickly retrieved their prize tickets from last time and stampeded down the stairs, discussing which prizes they could get if they pooled their tickets.

"I want the bean bag chair." Burger said as held the stairwell door open from the others. "It's tye-dye and would look awesome in the TV room!"

"That's like a thousand tickets…" Bleed said flatly. "And what would we do with one bean bag chair? Share?"

Burger was about to argue the merits of sharing until a familiar, obnoxious voice wafted from the communal laundry room. He and Ash both glanced at each other and they stopped by the door and peeked in. Brian was folding laundry and talking to a pair of twins, both looking equally insufferable as Brian.

"That guy…" Burger grimaced and Ash made a similar face. He turned to Bleed who hadn't met Brian before. "Derek's old room mate. Let's just slip through quietly…"

"Oh, that loser!" Brian's previously animated tone took a nose dive into extreme irritation. He held up a black t-shirt with a studded skull on it. "Even when he's not around, somehow his trash ends up with my things."

The two other boys tittered as Brian flung the shirt down.

"I haven't seen Derek since the first day of class."

"Did he drop out?"

"Pretty much. I haven't really seen him since I kicked him out of my apartment," scoffed Brian, looking disdainful. He carefully set the last folded polo shirt in his laundry basket and lifted it into his arms. "Honestly, I won't be happy until that moron finally goes back to England-"

They really didn't want to talk to the snobby boy, but that last statement caught their collective interest. The trio stepped fully into the laundry room, blocking Brian and his friends from leaving. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Oh, it's you guys." Brian wrinkled his nose and glanced at Bleed. "Uhg, they're multiplying…"

"What were you saying about Derek?" demanded Burger, looking annoyed. "He's going where?"

"He didn't tell you? His parents know about him ditching school." Brain looked rather smug as he crossed his arms. "So, they taking his lazy, talent-less butt back to England. They were pretty steamed when I told them-"

"What?" The three boys looked at each other, shocked. Derek didn't give any indication that he was leaving. Except yelling that he _was leaving_ this morning. Ash recovered first, and stepped up to Brian. "When's Derek leaving?"

Brian pursed his mouth, looking annoyed. "Who knows. Maybe right now. He did come by this morning to get some stuff he left. Didn't look too happy."

The boys turned abruptly and sprinted back to the stairs. The arcade would have to wait. They burst back into their apartment, simultaneously panting and arguing, trying to figure out what to do.

"This is your fault Burger." Bleed said suddenly, his expression deadly serious. "Remember last week?"

Burger and Derek had been fighting about something. It was business as usual between them, so Burger looked confused at Bleed's accusation. Ash gasped in horror suddenly and gave Burger a wide-eye look. "You told him to_ go back to England_! Burger, you jinxed him!"

"Well, I didn't want him to actually _leave_!" exclaimed Burger, looking a bit stricken. He twisted his hands together and blinked hard. "I mean, he's kinda annoying and self-centered and stubborn-"

"Mean, bossy-"

"Selfish jerk," finished Ash. He pursed his mouth and winced, feeling as though he went a little far. But everyone was doing it and he just got caught up with it. He cleared his throat and looked at the other two. "But he's our friend!"

"Right, exactly," agreed Bleed, nodding. "We have to make sure he stays here."

"But how?"

* * *

It's was almost an hour later when Derek showed up again. They were actually relieved, having been afraid that Derek had already left without telling them. Derek looked at them as they sat on the couch, pretending to watch TV.

"Hello, lads," said Derek briskly as he strolled in past them. He was headed to his room, speaking as he went. "I'm starving! Let's go to the diner…" Derek trailed off seeing his friends had followed him into his room. They were standing over him, hands behind their backs, looking too innocent to be actually innocent. "What? What is it?"

"Now!" Burger and Bleed launched forward and grabbed Derek, pinning him to the floor. They struggled as the Brit, kicked and punched at them, demanding an explanation. Burger yelped as he was punched on the neck. "Dude, Ash! I said now!"

"Now?"

"Yes, now! I said now-"

Ash joined them on the floor, brandishing a roll of duct tape. As he tore off a long strip, Derek hissed at him. "You better not!"

"Sorry…" Ash grimaced as he quickly wrapped the tape around Derek's wrists, binding them together. At Derek's snarl, he backed away, feeling rather nervous. "Don't be mad, Derek-

"Let me go!" Derek shouted, kicking at them until his legs were grabbed and taped together. He was lifted horizontally off the ground and carried out of the apartment. "What are you idiots doing?"

"It's fine, dude. Just relax," said Burger in a soothing tone, despite having Derek in a head lock. "We're rescuing you."

"Yeah, this way you can't go home." Ash said cheerfully. "Don't worry. We're going to explain everything to your mom."

"WHAT?"

They only managed to get a few stares as they carried the signer out of the building. Derek was shouting less-than-pleasant things at them as they walked around the building to the parking lot. The Brit began struggling wildly as they got to the car and popped open the trunk. "Oh, no. You are not putting me in there-HELP! THESE PEOPLE ARE MAD-"

Three different hands clamped over Derek's mouth, the sheer volume of the singer's voice making them panic. Derek's eyes bugged out as Ash ripped another strip of duct tape. "Sorry, Derek. But it's for your own good."

"You'll thank us later mate," said Bleed, petting Derek's knee as the duct tape when over his mouth. The muffled words spilling out of Derek were most likely a whole lot of curses. "Hmm…better put an extra piece on there. Just in case."

"Good idea," nodded Ash as he ripped off more tape. He bit his lip when Derek gave him a dangerous look. "I'm sorry! But we don't want you to go back to England! You have to stay here with us."

"Yeah!" Burger and Bleed concurred simultaneously. When Derek screamed at them from behind the barrier of tape, they shut the trunk, only feeling mildly guilty.

"Okay, like we planned-" Burger said as they huddled together.

* * *

"Huh, I like these jeans. D'you think they'll fit on me?"

Burger looked up from the planner he had found to see Bleed holding up at pair of ripped jeans. "Dude, focus. Dial the next number-"

Bleed and Burger had gone back up to the apartment while Ash kept Derek in hiding. Their first move was to go through the singer's things to look for an address book or something so they could call his parents. They found a barely used day planner that held about a dozen numbers, half of which were for overseas. So far, they called Derek's confused grandmother (she had thought Bleed was Derek and tried to engage him in a long conversation), a chip shop and some girls' house.

"Alright," sighed Bleed, dropping the pants back on the floor. He glanced down at number and punched it in. "The phone bill is going to huge this month…"

The two boys waited for someone to pick up, their ears pressed to the receiver. They sat up when a female voice picked up. "Hello?"

"Uh, hi-" Burger cleared his throat and winced when Bleed pushed the mouthpiece at him (Bleed wasn't keen on speaking on the phone again). "Is this Derek's mom?"

"Excuse me? Who is this?" The woman demanded. "Where's my son?"

"Derek…is, uh…" Burger looked at Bleed who shrugged. "In the bathroom."

"Well, tell him to call his mother when he has a moment, yes? Goodbye-"

"Wait!" Burger cut in, panicking for a moment. "We called 'cause we wanted to talk to you...?"

"We?"

"Yeah, his band mates." Burger glanced at Bleed who held up a piece of paper with notes on what to say. He had been writing them the past few seconds. He gave Burger a thumbs up and shook the paper at him. "We want him to stay here with us. He's our lead singer and…and…Dude, your handwriting sucks-"

"He's only sixteen years old! I can't have my Derek, running about a foreign country by himself!"

"But, he's not by himself!" insisted Bleed, tugging the phone near him. "We're his room mates and there's three of us living together."

"How old are all of you? Shouldn't you be home with your parents?" The woman's voice was now replaced with a man's gruff voice.

"Uh…my parents said, sometimes if you hold a bird too long it dies. So you have to let it fly." Bleed recited, remembering what his mom told him before he left. Burger gave him a strange look and he shrugged. He wasn't entirely too sure what it meant either.

"You lot part of this whole rock musician crock as well?" He sounded rather cankerous and a great deal less amiable than his wife. "Listen here, you will convince Derek to come home immediately! He needs to stop daydreaming and think about his future-as do the whole lot of you. And you lot-go find real jobs, eh?"

There was some grunting and struggling before the woman's voice came back on. "What my husband is trying to say; we're very worried about our son. Can you imagine not hearing from him for weeks? Then his room mate, that lovely Brian (Burger and Bleed gagged silently), suddenly tells us, he's left! No note to where he is, not going to class! It's been a terrible ordeal for us."

While the two boys could agree that it was a cruel thing of Derek to do (particularly since his mother sounded pretty nice), they still were determined to keep Derek with them. Burger cleared his throat and tugged the phone from Bleed. "Mrs. Uh…Derek's mom. The thing is, that Derek's a really great singer-"

"We know, that's why we let him go to the summer program at Juilliard." She sounded faintly proud now. "We were all so excited when he was accepted-"

"Then of course, he doesn't go to any classes and does he care? I think not, the lazy little-"

"Yeah, we know!" Burger interrupted loudly, over the two adults. "Derek's not lazy though- (Bleed coughed and Burger elbowed him) -he's the lead singer of our band. And we're really good!"

The older man snorted audibly and spoke flatly. "Are you boys making any money then? Got any record deals or anything of the sort?"

"Uh…yes," Bleed lied, seeing Burger freeze up. Technically, they did have money. Just not from playing music. "We pay for our own rent and food and everything!"

"Yeah! We're really…popular," continued Burger, getting caught up now. "And he's our friend."

"Friends?"

"Well, yeah. All four of us," said Bleed as though it were obvious. It was silent for a moment and Burger cleared his throat loudly. "So..can he stay with us?"

"Derek's never had a lot a friends," she continued softly. "Can you imagine? A sweet lad like him and no friends. He's just terribly shy-"

Burger and Bleed both coughed loudly at this. It was more likely that no one could put up with Derek's attitude. Burger cleared his throat now and fought back the urge to snicker at the idea of Derek being shy. "Well, Derek is our friend. And we don't want to lose him."

"Yeah. Friends or no, he still needs to-" Derek's father was cut off by a loud 'shush!'.

Derek's mom voice came back, much nicer than it had been at first. "Boys? Is Derek out of the loo yet?"

"What's a loo?" Burger and Bleed jumped at the new voice and turned to see Ash standing behind them. "Hey, guys."

"Ash? Where's Derek?" Burger asked, blinking. When Ash merely gave him a blank look, he dropped the phone and stood. "Dude!"

"Derek's still in the trunk." Ash said, his eyes lighting up suddenly. "He kinda passed out so I came back here to get him a glass of water-"

"Who's in a trunk? What's going on? Hello?"

Bleed and Burger winced, hearing the tinny voice on the phone. Ash picked up the receiver and frowned. "I think they have the wrong number."

* * *

Derek was steamed by the time they freed him from the trunk and got the duct tape off him. He was ready to tear into them and he had chased them up the stairs all the way into the apartment. But they managed tell Derek that his parents were waiting for him and to call them before the Brit exacted his revenge.

It was difficult to hear what was going on from the living room. Derek had taken the phone into the bathroom twenty minutes ago and was still in there. Whatever was happening in there was mostly inaudible. Which might be a good thing, considering every once in awhile, Derek would start shouting for a few moments, indicating an argument.

To distract themselves, they plugged in the pong game in and were engaging in a half-hearted mini tournament. That was fifteen minutes ago and Ash and Bleed were still tied zero to zero.

They all turned to see Derek walking in, his expression not giving anything away. Bleed and Burger shifted apart to make room on the couch as Derek sat down. Bleed nudged Derek and offered his controller. "So…? How did it go?"

"Well. Me dad's angry but mum's oddly supportive," sighed Derek as he took the controller from Bleed. "He said that I better not come back until I'm famous and can pay for my own air fare. I think mum will wear him down for Christmas though…"

It was silent between them for awhile as they played. After a few moments of button-clicking, Ash looked over at Derek. He looked a little sullen, but neutral for the most part. "Uh…are you okay, Derek?"

"Of course I am. I wanted to stay here," replied Derek, quirking an eyebrow. He continued to look at the screen, obviously trying to concentrate. "I mean, I was rather close to convincing them on my own. Then you lot kidnapped me and whatnot."

"Sorry…" They mumbled simultaneously, each displaying different levels of embarrassment on their faces. Burger pouted a bit and crossed his arms. "We wouldn't have done that if you told us what was going on in the first place."

"Yeah," chimed in Ash, looking as miffed as Burger. "We had to hear it from your old room mate."

Derek pursed his mouth, looking a bit uncomfortable. "I didn't want you lot to worry. Or something. I mean, you would've been in a fix without me as a singer."

"We were worried 'cause you're our…you know." Bleed grumbled, busying himself by wrestling the second controller away from Ash. "Okay?"

"Yeah, we're all-" Burger shrugged and waved his hands a bit. "-you know."

"I know…" Derek rolled his eyes but looked faintly pleased. "That's good to know."

It was silent again, but it was a much more comfortable silence. Ash frowned and looked up from the screen. "Know what?" He pouted at the sighs and groans he received. "I don't know! Someone tell me-"

"Ash, go get us some crisps," demanded Derek, thrusting an empty bowl at the drummer. When Ash looked ready to protest, Derek gave him an owlish look. "You tied me up."

"Yeah, but…" Ash sighed and got up, taking the bowl into the kitchen. When he came back, he smiled at the sight of his band mates sitting around the TV, playing games together. "I'm glad we're friends, you guys. You're the bestest friends a guy can ask for-"

"Uhg, Ash…"

"Ew."

They all got up and went to their own rooms, leaving Ash by himself with the chips and the pong game beeping at him. The drummer sighed and sat down. "Those guys suck."

**And done. Yay~**


	5. Hair

**New one-shot. Something cute I thought of when I saw one of the new episodes. Derek keeps doing other peoples' hair and they're all in Ash's style. So, this is how Ash gets his spikey hair! Enjoy~**

Ash noticed it one night, before a show. He and Burger were in the bathroom getting ready. Ash had been vigorously brushing his teeth but became distracted by his friend. The bassist was focusing intently on twisting a lock of blond hair around a curling iron. He was actually quite good at it, quickly making curl after curl.

"Burger?"

"Mm?"

"What are you doing?" Ash frowned as Burger shook out his hair briefly before resuming with the iron. It was a rather significant change and Ash was somewhat wary of change. Who knows what would come after this. Burger losing weight? Changing his name _again_? "It looks…"

"Awesome, right?" Burger grinned and banged his head up and down to mess up the neat curls. He seemed satisfied and tied his bandana back around. "I've been waiting forever for my hair to grow out for this."

Ash did have to admit, it looked pretty cool. He looked at his own hair and frowned. It was long-ish, almost hitting his shoulders. The black locks were straight and hung a bit limply around his face. Ash tugged at it and frowned. "You think I should curl my hair?"

Burger stared at him for a moment, seriously studying him. "Nah. You'd look stupid."

"Hey…" Ash huffed slightly and looked at his reflection again. He glanced down at Burger's curling iron. Derek had naturally wavy hair and now Burger did too. Bleed's hair wasn't wavy, but it wasn't completely straight like his own. That was two and a half members with the same hairstyle. He felt left out.

After the show, when the others retreated to bed, Ash waited until Burger was dead asleep and crept to the bathroom. He plugged Burger's curling iron into the outlet and waited for it to heat up. The guys were going to be surprised when they see him, Ash thought happily as he reached down to see if the iron was ready.

"Ow!" The iron was hot now and Ash sucked on his burnt fingers for a moment. He picked up the plastic handle gingerly and grabbed a large chunk of his hair. Imitating what he observed Burger doing earlier, he opened the iron and clamped it on the end of his hair then twisted it upward. It was going to be a good look, Ash mused as waited. _/Now, Burger and I can do each others hair!/_ Ash coughed a little and blinked as his vision clouded slightly. There was smoke in his eyes but he was somewhat distracted from the burning smell that was gagging him.

"Oh, wait…" The smoke was emitting from the metal part of the iron. And the smell was coming from his head. Ash dropped the iron, thinking it would fall to the floor. Instead, it remained clamped in his hair and he screamed, yanking at the smoking device. "Oh, crap!"

"Ash…? What are you-" Burger appeared in the doorway, his expression sleepy. His eyes suddenly widen at the sight in front of him and he dashed in. "Dude! What are you doing?!"

The offending curling iron was detached from Ash's hair and unplugged. Burger fanned at Ash's hair, partially to cool the burning smell but mostly to push the smell away from him. Ash stared at his reflection in the mirror. He did have a curl, a single large wave, but it was frizzy and smoldering slightly. "Oh, man…"

"Ew, something really smells-" Derek and Bleed were in the doorway now too. Both of the Brits wore matching faces of disgust as they squinted at the other two. "Burger-"

"It's not me! This time…" protested Burger. He jerked his thumb at Ash and the pair looked to the forlorn looking drummer. "Ash totally fried his hair."

Bleed burst out laughing at Ash's appearance and stumbled back to his room. Derek was a bit more sympathetic to the drummer's plight, but a slight smirk was still on his lips. "It's fine, Ash. We'll just cut it."

"What?! No!" Ash stepped back, shaking his head. "It took forever for my hair to get this length-"

"Hey, Ash-" A flash of light went off, putting spots in Ash's eyes. He blinked furiously to see Bleed again. He was grinning at him, holding a camera in his hands. "What d'you do, mate? Try to do your hair in the dark?"

"No…The light was on," sighed Ash, feeling embarrassed. "I did it exactly the way Burger did!"

"Dude. I didn't burn off my hair. Or try to do half my head in one go," snorted Burger. He edged to the door and peeked at the Polaroid in Bleed's hand. "Ooh, man! I need a copy-"

"Guys! C'mon-" Ash wailed, grabbing at his hair. He froze as his hand came away easily and he found a himself with a handful of burnt, brittle hair. "This is serious! I can't go around looking like this!"

"It's only a chunk that's fried," observed Derek. He frowned as he inspected the damage, wrinkling his nose at the burnt smell. "Uhg, I'm getting a headache. Just cut that mess off and go to bed."

By the time the section of ruined hair was removed it was two in the morning. By the time Burger trimmed the rest of Ash's hair to a matching, even length, it was three-thirty in the morning.

Ash went to bed miserable and with hair that was two inches shorter than before. He was still depressed in the morning, especially after looking in the mirror. His friends didn't seemed to notice his misery until his fourth or fifth, gusty sigh at breakfast.

"Dude, what?" Burger finally asked. He frowned as he glanced up from the cereal box he was reading to see Ash morosely staring into his bowl. When Ash sighed again, more louder and sad, Burger scooted over. "Alright, what's wrong?"

"It's my hair. I mean-" Ash grabbed his black hair and yanked on it for emphasis. "Just look at it! I look horrible…"

"Oh, Ash…" Derek looked up from his own breakfast. He went over to the drummer and pet his head. "You look the same."

Ash let his head drop onto the table with a loud 'thunk'. He felt even worse now. "I'm just going to hide until my hair grows back…"

When the others saw Ash again, the forlorn boy trudged into the TV room and sat on the floor, slightly away from them. None of them really knew how to broach the topic of why Ash had a paper bag over his head.

Burger coughed and nudged Ash. "Dude, what's with the paper bag?"

"Plastic bags can kill you. It says so on the label," replied Ash. He sighed and lowered himself onto his side to lay down. "Maybe I should use a plastic bag-"

"Er…Ash? Don't you think you're taking this a little to far?" Bleed asked, feeling rather disturbed. "It's just hair-"

"You wouldn't be saying that if this happened to you-" Ash whipped the bag off his head to illustrate his point. "I'm a mess!"

All of them looked blankly at their drummer. Finally, Derek rolled his eyes and forced himself off the couch. "Well, I won't argue that you're a mess-" Burger kicked Derek and the Brit continued hastily. "But, all you need is a new style!"

"Style?" Ash sniffed and looked at Derek hopefully. "Like Burger's-"

"No!" chorused the others. When Ash looked sad again, Derek sighed and gingerly touched Ash's hair. "I can fix it."

"You can?" Ash brightened up slightly at Derek's nod. "How?"

Soon, Ash found himself in mild pain as Derek was repeatedly tugging on his hair. "Ow! Do you have to be so rough?"

"No," replied Derek as he paused to squirt more hair gel into his hands. "But it's more fun for me."

"Are you just trying to make me look stupid?" Ash asked glumly as the tugging resumed. When Derek didn't answer, he poked the singer in the stomach firmly. "Hey-"

"Ow-" Derek yanked a piece of Ash's hair firmly in retaliation. He scowled and continued messing with Ash's hair. "I'm almost done-"

Ash sighed and continued waiting. He was getting antsy as Derek began spray liberal amounts of hairspray around his head. "Dude, I can't breathe-"

"Done!" announced Derek. He gave one more spray and stepped back to show the others. "Much better."

"Really?" Ash managed to cough out. He got to his feet and ran to the mirror they kept by the hall. "Uh…wow?"

"Well?" Derek looked pleased with himself as he joined Burger and Bleed on the couch. "Not bad, eh?"

"It doesn't look like the rest of yours…" Ash finally said as he inspected himself. But it was sort of cool. It was sticking up in tall spikes, stiff and unmoving. "It looks like someone electrocuted me."

Derek huffed and crossed his arms. "Well, I tried-"

"I like it! It's awesome-" Ash grinned now as he touched the top of his hair. The texture was like a bristle brush or something. He looked at the others "Well?"

"It's cool!" Burger grinned and gave him a thumbs up. "Way better than before, bro."

"It suits you," said Bleed, nodding. He looked at Derek and frowned. "You missed your calling as a hairdresser."

"It's the only hair style I know how to do actually," confessed Derek. He shrugged and tossed the hairspray and gel at Ash. "You can have these. I hardly use any of it."

Ash smiled and went to Derek, his arms outstretched for a hug. The second time Derek evaded him, he pouted. "I just wanted to say thank you…"

"Then say it like a normal person," said Derek, sticking his tongue out. "And stop moping. You've done quite enough of that today."

"Hm. Okay!" Ash smiled now and gathered up the hair products to take to his room. He was excited to do it himself next time. Before he ran off, he stopped behind the couch and looked at his band mates. He grinned and grabbed all three of them around the necks, squeezing them together. "You guys are awesome."

"Stop choking us-" gagged Burger. "Dude-"

"-can't breathe-"

"Okay!" Ash let them go and stepped jauntily down the hall. "I'm going to wash my hair and test my new look on my own now!"

Derek rolled his eyes and rubbed his sore neck gingerly. "Who wants to bet he's going to hurt himself with the hairspray?"

"…I'll go supervise him…" Burger sighed after a moment of silence.

**END**


	6. Fake

**Another oneshot. Very mild hints of slash in this one. **

Bleed never thought too much about tea. That is, not until Derek kept forcing him to have tea with him every afternoon. But 'forcing' wasn't the right word. It was more that teatime was something proper Englishmen did and, as a proper Englishmen, Bleed had to go along with it. So, every day at around four P.M, there would be a pot of tea and an assortment of sweets on the table. At first, Bleed didn't really mind. He liked all the snacks and, after all, he had appearances to keep up. But after a few months of this, Bleed was getting sick of tea.

All this was going through Bleed's mind, as he slowly stirred his hot beverage. At least Burger was genuinely enjoying himself, Bleed thought as he observed the bassist reach for another cookie (biscuits, Derek called them). Burger seemed completely taken by the idea of teatime. But the hefty teen would take any excuse to have an extra meal. Bleed sighed and grimaced as he took another sip of tea. There was too much milk. As usual.

"Bleed? Are you alright?" Derek asked suddenly. Bleed blinked and realized that Derek caught him making a face. "Want more milk-"

"No! Uh…that's okay," said Bleed hastily. He pushed his tea cup away and stood. "Actually, my stomach kind of hurts, mate. I'm gonna go have a lie down."

"Oh. Alright, then." Derek shrugged and resumed sipping his own drink. "I'll keep a pot on for you, in case you feel better."

Bleed forced a small smile before scuttling out of the small kitchen (not before seeing Burger swipe his half eaten sweets). He smacked his mouth, tasting too much sugar on his tongue (along with milk, Derek also put too much sugar into the tea).

For the most part, Bleed had adjusted to his new life in the band. Gone were the days of whiling away on a farm/commune where the days dragged slowly. Seventeen years of drum circles, craft making and the 'love and peace' vibe finally wore thin and Bleed decided to up and leave. There was no way he could be the next Hendrix by staying on some dull hippie colony.

His parents (life-givers, they preferred) weren't happy about him giving up the long-past 60's lifestyle, but didn't stand in his way. They even agreed to him changing his stupid name. What sort of parents name their baby 'Rainsong', wondered Bleed, wincing. He counted himself lucky to have never gone to school, as he would've definitely been beat up for having such a ridiculous name. 'Bleed' was much better name.

When Bleed decided to put his old life behind him, he hadn't really been planning on changing himself so extremely. What he was doing essentially, was rewriting his entire past. Instead of being Rainsong, hippie, flower child and raised in Woodstock, USA; he was Bleed, tea-drinking, born and bred Englishman. He hadn't even planned on being British until he started eavesdropping on the guys at the diner. It just stuck after hearing it. Mostly, he didn't mind. After all, it was what got Derek to relent and let him into the band. But it was a little stressful sometimes.

It was definitely one of those days. Most of the time, the persona he put on came easily to him, almost naturally. But once in a while, he could feel it slipping and the idea of being found out would loom over his head. Bleed told himself in the beginning-when the guys (mostly Derek) warmed up to him, he'd tell the truth. That was months ago and they were pretty good friends now, but he hadn't said anything. It just kept slipping his mind for some reason.

If he was going to come clean, it should be sometime now before he would be labeled a faker. But he was already so used to being 'Bleed'. And a part of him greatly enjoyed the close companionship he and Derek shared, being 'those two British guys'. It was nice having a best friend, after all. Bleed sighed, imaging how Derek would take the truth. Not well, he imagined.

But then again, Derek couldn't be so shallow that their friendship hinged on him being English. No, at the end of the day, all Bleed did was give himself an accent. He still had his personality and quirks.

"Hey, Bleed-" Derek's voice broke his thoughts and Bleed sat up a little. The singer was edging into the room, with a mug. "You're still under the weather?"

"Uh…a little," mumbled Bleed. At Derek's inquiring look, he sighed. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"Ah. Well, I brought you something for your stomach," said Derek. He all but forced the mug into Bleed's hands and sat on the bed next to him. "You're in one of your moods, aren't you?"

"Moods?"

"Yeah. You get all quiet and…not-fun sometimes." Derek informed the guitarist. He frowned and squinted at Bleed suspiciously. "You're not getting second-thoughts about all this, are you?"

"What? No way-" Bleed protested. He was a bit taken aback by Derek's assumption. "Where would you get that idea?"

"Well, you know-" Derek gave Bleed a significant look. When Bleed merely cocked his eyebrow, the Brit slumped back slightly and huffed. "It's different for us, right? Ash and Burger are a few stone throws away from home. And they grew up together."

"Yeah, so?" Bleed pursed his mouth, wondering what Derek was getting at. He blinked as Derek rolled his eyes, scowling. "What?"

"You don't miss it? Home, I mean," asked Derek. He looked mildly embarrassed as he glanced at Bleed. "It's not like you can hop at bus and visit, yeah?"

Bleed mentally slapped himself. Derek thought he was homesick. He wasn't; not when his real home was only a few hours away. A thought hit him and Bleed suddenly whirled around on Derek. "You're not thinking about going home, are you?"

"No! Of course not." Derek scoffed, but he wasn't looking at Bleed anymore. He distractedly picked at his nails and lowered his voice as he continued. "I just miss it sometimes. It's normal…"

"Yeah…I guess." Bleed relaxed slightly. He felt a little bad now; of course Derek was homesick. Living on your own in a foreign country with no friends or family wasn't easy. "I've been living here for awhile though, remember? You'll…uh, you'll get use to it. Okay?"

"Right…Well, I'm just glad you're around," said Derek, his tone brisk now. He smiled and nudged Bleed's arm playfully. "Ash and Burger are great-don't tell them I said that. But sometimes it's hard to relate to them, you know?"

"Derek? Can I tell you something? Honestly, I mean." Bleed fiddled with the mug in his hands idly as Derek looked at him._ /Just tell him already-/_ "I really don't like tea. I hate it, actually."

"What?" Derek squinted at him and crossed his arms. He snorted and a smirk crossed his face now, as he took the tea from Bleed. "Why didn't you say so? You've been drinking it for the past three months."

"Uh…I don't know," said Bleed. He suddenly felt rather stupid as Derek laughed at him and he pouted. "I didn't want to be rude."

"You'll put glue on Ash's drumsticks but you won't turn down tea because it's rude?" questioned Derek, his voice amused. He laughed again at Bleed's reddening face and walked to the door. "You're an odd one. But I suppose that's part of your appeal."

"Good to know…" Bleed grumbled. Actually, Derek made a good point. He could've said he didn't want the tea but kept forcing himself to drink it. It wasn't like every person in England drank tea. But he still made himself drink it. Whatever, he thought to himself. Plus, apparently, Derek found it 'appealing'.

Another day of him not revealing the truth would go by, Bleed thought with a sigh. But being British seemed to actually to make Derek happy and he couldn't bring himself to tell the truth at that moment.

Next time, he'd tell them about the 'not-actually-British-thing'. Just not today.

**End**

**I've been hinting in past chapters that Bleed is a secret-hippie. For those young 'uns who don't know, a commune/colony is basically when back in the 60's, a bunch of hippies would gather and live in groups, sharing everything and...do hippie stuff... A few communes are still around today! **


End file.
